John x. 1 7, 1 8. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This com- mandment have I received of my Father.
THE subject here insisted on, whilst, at first sight, it appears merely speculative, is really of great im- portance: for, if the Lord Jesus Christ did not act voluntarily in every part of his mediatorial work, there could be no justice in laying our sins upon him, nor any efficacy in the atonement which he offered for them. It was this willingness of his to endure all which was necessary for our redemption, that put an essential difference between, him and all other shepherds. Other shepherds, in countries where their flocks are open to the assaults of wild beasts, have exposed, and even sacrificed, their lives for their flocks : but no one ever undertook the office of a shepherd on purpose that he might die for his sheep. This, however, our blessed Saviour did. He fore- saw, from all eternity, that, if he would redeem our souls, he must die in our stead : and of his own mind and will, without any necessity or constraint, except what arose from his own love to us and to his hea- venly Father, he undertook our cause, and executed all that was necessary for the accomplishment of that stupendous task. The earnestness with which this fact is asserted in my text, together with the accepta- bleness of it to his heavenly Father, in whose estima- tion it so greatly raised him, shew, that the whole subject deserves our most attentive consideration. In fact, we cannot have just conceptions of our Saviour's mediatorial work, unless we distinctly mark,
I. Its voluntariness on his part —
It is said, indeed, in my text, " This commandment have I received of my Father." Now, it must be re- membered, that the Lord Jesus Christ, as man, and